Samara Joy McLendon, a jazz singer from Bronx, New York City, pulled off an upset by winning the Best New Artist at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
Samara beat the likes of Latto, Anitta, Omar Apollo, Domi & JD Beck, Muni Long, Maneskin, Tobe Nwigwe, Molly Tuttle and Wet Leg to win her first ever Grammy award.
The 23-year-old musician expressed her gratitude in her acceptance speech. “I’ve been watching y’all on TV for so long….. Thank you so much for this honor, thank you to everyone who has listened to me and supported me…To be here because of who I am … to be here by just being myself, by just being who I was born as, I’m so thankful.” She spoke.
Who is Samara Joy?
Samara Joy was born and raised in Bronx, NYC. She was born on November 11, 1999. Her grandparents used to perform for a gospel group based in Philadelphia, The Savettes.
Samara talked about how her family is musically inclined in an interview. “My dad – he’s a bass player, so it was a lot of, like, funk and, like, soul and R&B. But also, he was the one who mainly grew up in church and grew up playing in church.” She spoke.
Samara’s talent in music was first acknowledged when she performed with her high school jazz band and won the “Essentially Ellington” competition hosted by Fardham University in NYC
Improving herself day by day, Samara went on to win the International Jazz Vocalist Award in 2019.
In 2021, the singer released her first studio album titled, ‘Samara Joy,’ on which she collaborated with Matt Pierson, her current manager.
The singer’s music slowly gained traction on TikTok and made waves on social media platforms for a while. Her second studio album, ‘Linger Awhile’ was released in 2022 which paved way for the singer’s first ever Grammy win.